amre. mock executions electrocution and a taste for beating detainees these are just some of the accusations facing the british military over the iraq war but the international criminal court now urged to investigate. national security any fish and see an independent study finds the u.s. spy agency has been exaggerating the effectiveness of its dragnet data collection methods in combating terrorism. and the egyptians prepare to vote on a new draft constitution the third in three years as the military backed government so you seeks popular legitimacy after crushing the muslim brotherhood.

you're watching r.t. international from moscow headquarters where it's just after nine in the morning on lindsay france thanks for joining me the iraq war continues to haunt the u.k. with lawyers representing hundreds of detainees at that conflict now saying the british government is ultimately responsible for torture so rudel it amounts to sadism their testimonies have been submitted to the international criminal court but adds artie's polly boyko reports the case is determined to stop any investigation and its tracks. up until now the international criminal court at the hague had mostly tried to african dictators and tyrants but the i.c.c. has been asked to investigate thousands of allegations of war crimes committed by british forces in iraq a two hundred and fifty page dossier presented by a human rights organization and

a british law firm contains allegations of beatings of electrocution smoke executions and sexual assault committed by u.k. forces and according to the all says of this report the finger of blame extends to the very heart of the british government at the time so the head of the british army the former defense secretary and the former defense minister could face prosecution for what this dossier calls systemic war crimes there are many hundreds of cases where the people have been interviewed in the provided reports about this abuse and it varies from what people might think are. relatively mundane examples of abuse to really quite appalling physical their point says that british military commanders knew that their forces were committing war crimes and moreover that their civilian superiors consciously ignored such information at their disposal but the u.k.

foreign secretary william hague has already firmly rejected the suggestion that those at the top here in westminster knew what was taking place on the ground in iraq we reject allegations of systematic abuse but whether all substantiated allegations of things going wrong these things have been or are being investigated that does not require references to the international criminal court the position of the british government as culturally been or were doing enough the point of this is simply that they still haven't done enough there are right now. at the international criminal court two heads of state one of them the sitting head of state of kenya and the other the former head of state of called the war they're both on trial at the international criminal court not for getting their hands bloody they didn't do anything themselves but people under their authority or people who should have controlled were committing the crimes so if it's good enough for the african countries it should be good enough for the u.k.

to the international criminal court has come under increasing pressure to act against war crimes committed by western countries it's now up to the prosecutor at the i.c.c. to go through the claims of abuse and to decide whether to call high ranking british officials into the dock at the hague probably boy care artsy london. this is far from the first serious attempt to bring the u.k. armed forces to account for their iraq war transgressions the last one being in september on our website you can read the harrowing allegations of how british troops in one battle mutilated the bodies of fallen iraqis. the u.s. national security agency has gone to staggering lengths to hoard the private data of millions of people but all the effort seems to have been in vain an independent study now suggests all that information is simply failed to produce actionable results in averting terrorist attacks archies marina portnoy explains. when edward

snowden first revealed the u.s. government's indiscriminate collection of every american's phone data u.s. president barack obama defended the program insisting that dozens of threats around the world have been a bit courtesy of the national security agency and i say chief general keith alexander claimed metadata collection has thwarted fifty four different terrorism related activities post nine eleven now unfortunately for the white house a new study shows that the numbers they're using well they've been slightly inflated because an analysis of two hundred and twenty five terrorism related cases in the u.s. since the september eleventh attack has found that the n.s.a.'s program has provided evidence for only one case that the study by the national based nonprofit new american foundation has concluded the bulk collection of data by the n.s.a. has had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism researchers found

that in the majority of post nine eleven terrorism related cases tips or evidence actually came from traditional law enforcement and investigative methods now these findings come as president obama is preparing to address the nation friday outlining his proposals to change intelligence operations and oversight geo political analyst eric draitser doesn't expect the president's promises to equate into significant action i think that the reality is that what we're looking at is a vast infrastructure with billions of dollars invested in it over the course of multiple decades so whatever obama might be able to say politically using whatever rhetorical cover he needs the reality is that the infrastructure is not going anywhere the scaling back is only going to be superficial because as we know the surveillance program itself is all pervasive it goes to hardware it goes to software it goes to the companies themselves the servers the the cables themselves

so as. they said it is a closed system that they've created so for obama to be able to say oh well i can scale back this system this is merely for public consumption just last month a task force appointed by the president himself also concluded that the n.s.a.'s counterterrorism programs are not essential to preventing attacks reporting from new york marina port niamh r.t. . but their potations of stake the west threatens to cut support for syria's rebel government if it refuses to attend peace talks but the opposition is a step ahead calling the bluff and saying that between hard line islamists and the regime there is no other choice i report on the upcoming geneva peace talks right around the corner. with over two hundred thousand police on the streets to provide security egyptians are about to vote on a new constitution a yes vote would cement the power of the military backed interim government which replaced islamist president mohamed morsi after he would he was ousted in july last year but reports on how this would affect the troubled nation. with addictions are

heading to polling stations once again to vote on a new constitution if it gets a yes from the people that would mean egypt seen three constitutions and possibly three presidents in as many years and our people are voting on an amended version of the two thousand and twelve constitution which is thrown out by egypt's military generals after they overthrew is the most president mohamed morsi into law i know since then the government has launched a bloody crackdown on mr morsy supporters and also his group to visit both of his which was a terrorist organization on christmas day blamed for a spike in terror attacks it's the situation that's led the whole country to be on tenterhooks today as the police and the army are being stationed to polling stations preempting violence from the government hard line groups meanwhile human rights organizations have expressed dismay at the state of freedoms here in the country particularly after seven members of the egypt's party who were initially in support of the military to wear rested for putting up posters calling for

a no vote in the referendum the streets here were literally a wash vote yes the constitution post is. screened on radio and t.v. stations back to back however a new very calm pain is barely visible meanwhile the muslim brotherhood and supporters of calling for a boycott now a high turnout and a yes vote is essential for the government as this. it would be the start of approval from the people for the roadmap that egypt's generals made back in july and it could pave the way for armed forces chief general abdel fatah sisi to become president now critics say that there are many articles inside that the constitution the current constitution which people are voting on which would in fact strengthen military power over civilian governments leaving little hope for a democratic and peaceful future for egypt's y l s kandahar a blogger and journalist working out of cairo says the language in the new constitution would provide legal and political immunity for military although there

are a lot of egyptians that are really pro this constitution and they really seek stability there's very little chance that this constitution will do so and mostly because this vote on the constitution isn't a vote on the constitution itself but on a plethora of other factors including the muslim brotherhood whether they want people want them back or not. general sisi. whether people want him as president or not and then the last thing it's about is the actual constitution surely serves the army at this point they want to be protected against any kind of accountability for anything they've done it's still valid to see that even if there is a democratic president as long as the army is in power and they have about much power and autonomy that they can choose pick and choose who stays on and who leaves and i don't think the next constitution addresses that. no growth and no clear way out

france is scrambling for economic answers and as president gets the cartoon treatment as he pedals like crazy to get things back on track we've got the latest on his new low tax approach coming up in the program. and when your motherland just doesn't love you back up ahead latvian limbo for all those who live their whole lives there but with stateless passports that stripped them of key privileges enjoyed by ordinary citizens. britain and the united states are reportedly threatening to cut off support for the syrian opposition and lesser degrees to attend to give a peace talks next week but the syrian national coalition insists that with rebels on the one hand and assad's regime on the other there's no one else for the west to deal with meanwhile the roadmap for the peace talks is being hammered out in paris as igor piskun off reports. well one of the first things that we've heard from u.s. secretary of state is that russia the u.s. and the u.n. are completely on the same page that the only solution of the conflict in syria is

a diplomatic one mr kerry also said that both the syrian authorities and to the opposition are equally responsible for the atrocities committed there now we've also seen a slight shift on iran since a lot of barbara he needs your own special envoy on syria and syria lauber off the ball for saying that they want to see iran taken part in the geneva two conference this is a key player in the region this was something that the u.s. has previously against but now according to u.s. secretary of state washington wouldn't mind seeing tehran there at geneva two if it supports the agreements reached earlier at the one now mr also said that the authorities in syria have now confirmed that they are going to take part in the conference although one of the sticking points right now is that it's really unknown whether or not the opposition is planning to do the same although we are possibly witnessing now positive tendencies somewhat of

a positive tendency when it comes to the relationship between the opportunities there and the rebels since we've heard today about possible exchanges of prisoners and allowing humanitarian aid to get in but according to sergei lavrov right now regarding humanitarian aid the rebels are the key obstacles that's why moscow doesn't want to see the terror threat along the key issues to be discussed to be on the table there at you now that we've heard nothing about calls for president assad having to step down which is different from sunday since the french prime minister when he met with the syrian opposition he did make these calls for the syrian president to step down which shows that right now even though the key players now working on organizing this conference they are completely on the same page when it comes to lots of key issues some countries in the west are sending mixed signals which could theoretically undermine the success of the conference. the u.s.

congress is also sending mixed signals and first the us secretary of state welcome to iran's possible participation in the syrian peace talks but some time later we heard a different tune coming from washington saying iran hasn't yet proved itself ready he was simply stating that there are ways around could show the world that they want to see a positive outcome and if they did so obviously that would mean that if they wanted to play a role in geneva two on the sidelines we would look more favorably on that but certainly no one was indicating an openness to inviting them these are things that if they do they would definitely be invited there are just things that they could do to show that they want to effect a positive outcome but again we have no indication they're going to in geneva two as in how many days so i think you really have that it's probably very. similar to a middle east analyst told us the u.s. needs to take a more consistent approach and invite all sides of influence to the region at the negotiating table. seeing contradictory signals and

obviously the u.s. . and decided on this issue is very unfortunate because it was the wrong signal to iran the real. consequence to confidence building under new clearing sure so i think the united states should stop this self-contradiction sin then invitation through the u.n. to your arm so that all the parties the stake in this conflict could participate and bring an end to this tragic catastrophe conflict. meanwhile the situation in syria is growing more chaotic by the day rebel factions are now in an all out war with one another and all most seven hundred opposition fighters killed just over a week what's worse the balance of power is quickly turning away from the relative moderates and in favor of al-qaeda and one of the most notorious of those is the islamic state of iraq and the levant it began

a campaign called expunging filth which targets everyone opposed to it especially moderate rebels among the methods used by the jihadists are executions bombings and foresman of sharia law and the capturing of those who do not share their beliefs the group is so brutal that even his leadership has disavowed it now controls chunks of syria and iraq that are larger than portugal you can see the area here in black we love to hear your thoughts on the geneva two conference and you can have your say in the comments at r.t. dot com or in the poll we've got running there. also online torrent of support the jailed founder of the world's most popular file sharing website the pirate bay gets a modest improvement in prison conditions after over one hundred thousand people signed a petition to allow him access to books and other basic items. and a license to speed hollywood style car chases may soon be a common sight on the streets of britain as a country spies get immunity from road regulations allowing them to ignore traffic

lights pedestrian crossings and speed limits that story and more at our two dot com . well in economic terms france is dead in the water and that's even compared to a struggling european neighbors it's a situation that's left the pro-tax president scrambling for a new way to spore growth and he looks ready to make a surprising political u. turn to do it. i think so just like this wife and mother of this video clip mocks francois announced tax policies which are among the major reasons he's become the least popular president in france as more than history you know you couldn't move the team or talk too much more together with belgium france's tax grab is the highest in the eurozone you don't want to do that by saying well gee where was. the last two hours when a child had no taxes where they were two thirds of the country's population is clear tops so i don't write eighty percent of the president's economic policy is

misguided and inefficient gianluca is among those eighty percent and entrepreneur he was foolish to close his business down after taxes became too big to bear to sell second if you're sick this is a vicious circle with my business has stopped working and which means i kind of provide jobs for others and i can pay taxes to my country to help its development it's like everything falls apart. the current taxation policy was part of the finance strategy chosen by the french government to fight economic crisis but almost two years later critics say it simply hasn't worked the country's credit rating has been caught the unemployment level of those table recently is still at its highest in almost sixteen years and for twenty fourteen the european commission for costs just zero point nine percent g.d.p. growth in france against one point seven percent in germany and two point two

percent in britain people and businesses alike of oh my god another tax and another it's not that they're too high but there are too many and a combination of all these taxes makes it really heavy taxes today really break an economy and. it seems that's also finally beginning to dawn on the country's leader examples of new all rule taxes big. harvey you have a usually known for very optimistic speech in his new year address. sounded rather concerned. the economic crisis turned out to be longer and deeper than we could have predicted that. the socialist leader pledged some truly liberal changes such as cutting labor costs and public spending making people talk about a new or loaned and new hopes of the country's recovery but critics are still vocal as they say longs plan is short on details and some are afraid it could simply be

too little too late. rafe nationality from france as the french government struggles to find a remedy for thuggish growth max kaiser shows us how big business manages to thrive at your expense. but let's get back to the connection between surveillance and obesity because the surveillance technology you say could be surveilled by anyone they're not being surveilled by security looking for ways to keep people secure they're selling the access to marketing corporations and big pharma and big agra big consumer products companies who then spy on you in ways to help them sell you stuff more transparent foods more junk food more junk credit everything to make you on healthy more drugs everything that makes you lazy obese and stupid i.e. american that's what they're in it for and they're succeeded because you've got a jobless mass of obese trog abides wobbling around in their little tri cycles and

wal-mart looking for new ways to help plumb the nether regions of their intestines because it's all clogged up thanks to bill gates of the twenty four seventh's surveillance apparatus which is meant to keep people all the way that they are just look at the average wal-mart shopper and. as the saying goes there's no place like home for sun there's no country they can call by that name hundreds of thousands of people in latvia have so-called alien passports even though they've never lived anywhere else and naturalization test intended for immigrants is the only way for them to get equal rights with full citizens artie's paul scott investigates. you got any minute of the moments non-citizens have limited rights we can't vote can't occupy government positions or be policeman or lawyers in total there are ninety differences in november alexander

invited un secretary general ban ki-moon to latvia for a congress on the issue the invite was politely declined. and you're going to have any of them there are around three hundred thousand of us and i'm one of the new orleans here's my passport it's an alien passport. when the soviet union collapsed latvia only gave full citizenship to people and their descendants who had lived in the country prior to nine hundred forty when it became a soviet republic that was around fifty two percent of the population everyone else was classed as a non-citizen today one in seven people are considered alien canady is one of those affected he was born in latvia and although his mother is latvian because his father moved to the country after nine hundred forty not it was denied citizenship he eventually went through the process of naturalization when he was twenty two years old how did it make you feel having to go through that process despite the fact is he saying you were born in this country well does your mother love you.

right and that's the same if she does that you feel good and if it doesn't you feel a bit about and insulted the process of naturalisation attests noncitizens on their knowledge of latvian history culture and language many feel they're hostages to history claiming the latvian government are using them to avenge the past but it's not just a moral issue it could also be economic benefits to ending this policy if that three hundred thousand people will be back into political and economical life will be very good feel for the country to you know incidents to finally move on further because we always look back into history who are trying to go further. into european union insecurities own on but we still had to turn back those fighting for their rights acknowledged they have a long way to go before they win the argument to say they're prepared to take their case step by step postcards r.t.

latvia. well global headlines for you now tens of thousands of protesters who have broadband central bangkok that is to a standstill are threatening to tighten a blockade of government buildings some said they will storm the stock exchange as the prime minister refuses to resign dissolve parliament in december under pressure from opposition activists they accuse her of trying to get off corruption charges and bring him back to power. protesters rallied outside the german embassy in bucharest demanding that money borrowed by the nazi government or world war two be given back to romania the debt is thought to amount to almost one hundred billion euros in today's money but the german national bank says there's no paper trail and little chance of repayment the demonstration also targeted a proposal by a german member of parliament who suggested all romanians and bulgarians should be fingerprinted when they come into the country. at least

fourteen people have been killed and seven others injured in an explosion at a gambling hall in southwest china authorities are treating the incident as a criminal act and do not yet know who is behind it gambling is largely outlawed in china and venues are often connected with organized crime including trade and guns and explosives. british prime minister david cameron has promised local councils a wealth boon to boost the shale gas industry under the new plans local authorities will keep all of the rates from companies set up for hydraulic fracturing normally they get only fifty percent of the money the new initiative has already come in for heavy criticism from environmental groups who point to possible water contamination and earthquakes near extraction sites. we are not going to be fracking the way that the u.s. and certainly there is no evidence that bills will come down in this country in the u.k. we're locked into

a european sort of market so it's not the same as america where they could reduce prices so the first thing is that we have a very different pricing regime secondly in america what brought down the prices was that they had to go to the blast gas in the first place so if they had a very very different market when they entered that when shell got scientists and the third thing is we're never going to be able to extract in the volumes that they do in america and the other thing is is that there is huge amounts of concern about environmental impacts about the damage to the water system and about to the environment in the communities the lightly to be frank to accept we continue to look at the scandal over attempts to genetically alter one of the world's most popular foods.

old. technology innovation all the developments around russia. the future harbored. i know c.n.n. m.s.n. b c fox news have taken some not slightly but the fact is i admire their commitment to cover all sides of the story just in case one of them happens to be accurate.

that was funny but it's close and for the truth from them i think. it's because one full attention and the mainstream media work side by side the joke is actually on here. and our teen years we have a different breed. ok because the news of the world just is not this funny i'm not laughing dammit i'm not how. i see. you guys sort of jokes well handled it makes sense that i'm. this genetically modified plant is at the center of a controversy a controversy about how we deal with one of the most powerful technologies mankind has ever created. a technology that is polarizing society.

the protagonists include a now retired professor at e.t.h. who believes his golden rice will save children throughout the entire world. a swiss agricultural chemical corporation that first wanted to commercialize the miracle rice then changed its mind. and a country where tests are being carried out that would be prohibited in other places. researchers who manipulate crops are demanding more freedom the freedom to conduct their research free of political constraints they feel the moratorium that has been imposed on genetic technology for years unfairly hinders them in their.